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  • A disaggregated analysis of monetary policy effects on the agricultural sector in Nigeria
    47-58
    Views:
    416

    This study provides a disaggregated analysis of the effects of monetary policy shocks on the agricultural sector in Nigeria from 1981Q1 to 2016Q4. The study utilized the generalized impulse responses and the normalized generalized forecast error variance decompositions from an underlying VAR model, which are order-invariant. The four monetary policy variables used in the study are interbank call rate, monetary policy rate, broad money supply and exchange rate; while the four agricultural sub-sectors investigated are crop production, forestry, fishing and livestock. The study also controlled for the general price level and other economic activities in the overall economy. The findings indicate that the aggregate agricultural sector and its various sub-sectors consistently responded negatively to unanticipated monetary tightening in most of the forecast horizon; while the immediate impact of monetary policy shocks is transmitted to the agricultural sector through the interest rate and money demand (credit) channels. The findings further indicate that apart from these two channels, the roles of monetary policy rate and exchange rate are non-negligible in the long-run. The role of money supply channel in spreading monetary policy shocks to the agricultural sector remained muted all through. The study concludes that the monetary authority should evolve interest rate, credit, and exchange rate policies that will promote the development of the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

    JEL CODES: E52; N50; C22; N57

  • An approach to understanding the specific subsidies recevied by rural civic organizations: A case of a settlement in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County
    117-124
    Views:
    258

    Nowadays the sport related civic organizations form a special segment within the civic sector. In particular, the current situation of these organizations – who are operating in rural settlements – should be considered as special. In rural settlements the local sport related civic organizations by all means could be justified to make a difference on the basis of an essential aspect, that how they secure the funds from the external sources, and because of certain aspects it is closely related with the local politics. The purpose of our study was to investigate through the example of a small rural town in Hungary, that what kind of subsidies can the locally registered sport related civic organizations can get by focusing on the local football club’s results and the subsidies which were granted to the club between 2007 and 2015. We were also curious about, that is there any possible connection between the club’s performance and these certified subsidies.

    JEL CODE: L31, Z20, H71, D72

  • Infrastuctural background of the everyday physical education in Hungarian high schools
    31-36
    Views:
    194

    The Hungarian government is dedicated to supporting a healthy and sporty life-style, thus in the past years the number of initiatives directed to publicizing and promoting sports has increased considerably. The new Law of Public Education has put the emphasis on physical education and on organizing other sport events in schools. This led to the introduction, in a phasing-out manner, of the every-day physical education (PE).
    We were interested to know the infrastructural background of PE including the number and size of sports halls available for the students, how many classes can they accommodate at the same time, and when were they constructed. To this end a survey was conducted through telephone, contacting 200 high schools in 19 counties of Hungary. Do the schools have their own swimming pools, or do they conduct after-hours sports events. Data were analyzed using the EvaSys program.
    The time of construction of the schools and their sports halls spans a wide range between the years 1530 and 2005. So do the number of students, between 150-1200. Nineteen of the schools have none, 67% has one, and 18.8% two sports halls. The size of these halls is also very variable, while in some schools it is only 25 m2, in others it can be as large as 2295m2. In most cases the halls can accommodate one or two classes in parallel. Afternoon classes are held in 87% of the schools, and include basketball, fencing, and soccer, among others. However, only eleven of the interviewed high schools have swimming pools. Research has called the attention to the fact that the exercise of Hungarian youth is too little. This puts the emphasis on the promotion of physical activity in schools. While there are large differences in the infrastructural background in the schools involved in the survey, they all strive to conduct after-hours sport events.

  • OPERATING RESULTS OF SILAGE ENTERPRISE OF A FARM - A CASE STUDY
    Views:
    146

    Improvements in agriculture has been focusing on innovations to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the traditional production structure currently in use more flexible and by making the necessary technological changes for farmers with large areas and the necessary machinery and equipment. Farms with significant arable land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficiency and profitability. The decisive sector of agriculture in Hungary is crop production, therefore its performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop sector and the volatility in prices. From the farm data, we calculated farm-level results that support the need for machinery modernisation efforts, as precision tools and improvements already started in maize production can be applied fruitfully even in the light of the increasing frequency of negative climatic effects. During the development of silage maize cultivation technology, the achievements of precision farming were applied. Differentiated nutrient replenishment and sowing operations were used, in addition to the fact that harvesting was also documented. We set ourselves the goal of analyzing the management data of the study period between 2019-2022 in order to reveal the nature of the changes that occurred in terms of production value, production cost, and income, as well as the components that shape them. The presented values ​​are average values ​​of such conditions which are also suitable for crop-level conclusions. At the same time, they can be used to identify sector-level challenges and trends.

  • Agricultural development and government expenditures in the new EU countries
    21-35
    Views:
    174

    The main ambition of this paper is to analyse agricultural developments in selected new EU member states with particular emphasis on government expenditures in agriculture. The main objective is to identify the relationship between government expenditures development on one side, and agrarian sector performance (the value of production) in selected member states on the other. The conclusions drawn from this analysis are that the agricultural sector has changed its structure and position within the national economy of selected new EU member states significantly in the 20 years since the early 1990s. Member states included in the analysis reduced both the size of their agricultural sector (number of people working in agriculture, total arable areas, number of animals, etc.), and the value of agricultural output. Despite the significant reduction of the agricultural output, member states became more efficient – and in particular their productivity per farmer increased significantly. Selected country’s agricultural sector, its structure and production value development are closely related to government expenditures. Significant correlation is apparent between agricultural government expenditures and the change in the number of economically active persons in agriculture, development of agricultural production, agricultural area, agricultural GDP and agricultural capital stock. Regarding the elasticity of new EU member states’ agricultural sector in relation to changes in government expenditures, significant elasticity is apparent in the case of the number of economically active persons in agriculture, agricultural production (especially livestock production), area of arable land, agricultural GDP and capital stock.

  • Theory and practice in the management of university championships organized in Hungary
    47-51
    Views:
    159

    After the 1989-1990 political changes the aim of the Hungarian University Sports Federation was to follow its traditions of nine decades in foreign policy as well, therefore the organization of international competitions in Hungary was promoted. Up to now the study of the management of these international events was neglected in the Hungarian scholarly literature, although all university sporting events held in Hungary were successful and they were highly appreciated internationally. Taking the example of three university world championships hosted by Hungarian towns, the objective of this paper is to analyze how the management succeeded to solve the major tasks of the organizational work and how some management theories were implemented in its activity. In order to collect data the following methods were used: analysis of documents, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The results are presented on the basis of some theses of the event planning theory, the event management theory, and the situational leadership theory. More specifically, the issues of motives-decisionactions, consistency- coherency- harmony and these of the quantity indicators of event organization in connection of the three underscored world championships organized in Hungary are discussed. In conclusion it is stated that in the management the situation theory had to be taken into consideration the most in the leading process. It was proven that despite preparations lasting often for several years and expanding to every detail of requirements, the flexibility of the management was crucial to search and to find response to every critical situation.

  • Bioenergy: Risks to food-, energy- and environmental security
    121-130
    Views:
    256

    There are growing opportunities and demands for the use of biomass to provide additional renewables, energy for heat, power and fuel, pharmaceuticals and green chemical feedstocks. However, the worldwide potential of bioenergy is limited, because all land is multifunctional, and land is also needed for food, feed, timber and fiber production, and for nature conservation and climate protection. The recent expansion of the bioenergy industries together with a strong increase in many commodity prices has raised concerns over the land use choices between energy needs and food and feed. New systems of energy production must be developed based on cost of environmental damage due to production and use of fossil energy and certain chemicals and materials. This article presents risks to food and energy security, estimates of bioenergy potential and the challenges of the environmental and social impact associated with expansions in bioenergy production.

  • Specialities of the corporate tax in connection with the sports organizations
    15-18
    Views:
    177

    In 2004 Hungary joined the EU, therefore its tax system is harmonized with EU directives and its trade with the EU is liberalized and exempt from customs restrictions. In the past few years Hungarian government introduced significant corporate tax advances in order to increase Hungary’s competitiveness for foreign capital. With the flat 10% corporate tax rate, Hungary has one of the the lowest corporate income tax rate in the European Union. Since 2011 new corporate tax incentive was adopted in order to create a tax advantageous economic environment for supporting the five most popular team sports in Hungary, namely, football, handball, basketball, water polo and ice hockey. The following article provides a rough guide on the corporate taxation – in particular of sport organizations in Hungary. 

    JEL code: H25

  • Emerging trends in strategic planning
    23-31
    Views:
    1104

    In today’s rapidly changing world, there is an increased need for excellent strategic planning. A firm’s survival may indeed hinge on the firm’s planning process being exemplary. Various aspects of the strategic planning process are under review today as organizations wrestle to compete more effectively. This paper reveals and describes five emerging trends or tools being utilized today by firms to more effectively engage in strategic planning. Specifically, the emerging trends and tools to be discussed in this paper are as follows:

    1) Assure vision and mission statements include desired characteristics

    2) Perform SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) analysis using AQCD (Actionable, Quantitative, Comparative, and Divisional) factors

    3) Utilize varied sources to obtain AQCD information

    4) Utilize QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) analysis to determine the relative attractiveness of alternative strategies

    5) Use excel-based software to facilitate and enhance the strategic planning process.

    The purpose of this paper is to familiarize readers with basic new tools and techniques being used by organizations to effectively develop an improved strategic plan for the firm.

    JEL Code: M21, O21

  • Forecasting with X-12-ARIMA: International tourist arrivals to India and Thailand
    43-61
    Views:
    174

    Forecasting is an essential analytical tool in tourism policy and planning. This paper focuses on forecasting methods based on X-12-ARIMA seasonal adjustment and this method was developed by the Census Bureau in the United States. It has been continually improved since the 1960s, and it is used by many statistics agencies and central banks. The secondary data were used to produce forecasts of international tourist arrivals to India for 2007-2010 and also these data were used to produce forecasts of international tourist arrivals to Thailand for 2006-2010. From these period the results confirm that the best forecasting method based on the X-12-ARIMA seasonal adjustment is X-12-ARIMA(0,1,2)(0,1,1), X-12-ARIMA(0,1,1)(0,1,1) and X-12-ARIMA(2,1,0)(0,1,1) for India and the best forecasting method based on this method is X-12-ARIMA(0,1,1)(0,1,1) and X-12-ARIMA(2,1,0)(0,1,1) for Thailand. Furthermore this method predict that international tourism arrivals to India for 2007–2010 will growth at a positive rate as same as in this during period the number of international tourists arrival to India will be 5,079,651 million, 5,652,180 million, 6,224,480 million and 6,796,890 million, respectively. Also this method predict that international tourism arrivals to Thailand for 2006-2010 will growth at a positive rate as same as in this during period the number of international tourists arrival to Thailand will be 12,211,033 million, 12,699,532 million, 13,187,591 million, 13,674,669 million and 14,161,998 million, respectively. If these results can be generalized for future year, then it suggests that both the India government sector and the Thailand government sector also the private tourism industry sector of these country should prepare to receive increasing numbers of international tourist arrivals both to India and Thailand in this period.

  • Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development
    39-46
    Views:
    151

    Paper aims to demonstrate the ability or inability of Portuguese agriculture to respond to changing economic conditions as well as societal expectations and demands. The main question is to know how the CAP’s evolutions through a policy with a double emphasis – on market orientation and competitiveness and on sustainability.

  • Off-farm participation and technical efficiency among smallholder farmers in the Northern Region, Ghana
    35-43
    Views:
    238

    The study aimed at investigating the effects of off-farm participation on technical efficiency of maize production in the Tolon district of the Northern Region, Ghana. The Logit regression model was used to analyze the determinants of off-farm participation while the stochastic frontier production function was used to model the determinants of maize output and technical efficiency. The empirical results from the logistic regression model indicate that age of farmer, educational attainment, farming experience, farm size, and previous farm income are significant drivers of farmers’ participation in off-farm activities. Farmers’ average technical efficiency level was 90.7% suggesting a 9.3% potential loss to inefficiency. Moreover, participation in off-farm activities had a negative influence on farmers’ technical efficiency level. The study, therefore, recommends that farm-level policy should be directed towards making the agricultural sector attractive by promoting investment and agricultural employment opportunities in the rural areas so as to ensure full commitment to farming activities.

    JEL code: Q22

  • Network attributes’ evaluation by stakeholder groups concerned to the agri-food sector in Hungary
    55-58
    Views:
    169

    As a consortium partner, University of Debrecen, Hungary, has been conducting a European four-year project with the acronym NetGrow financed within the Framework Program 7 under the auspices of the EU focusing on network behaviour of food SMEs and the performance of networks. The overall objective is to reveal more evidences and facts on innovation, learning, and networking in the food sector of the EU. Whithin the scope of the project, special attention was paid to reveal how network attributes were evaluated by the main four stakeholder groups of the food sector such as food SMEs, public bodies, research institutions, and network management organisations. The respondents differ in ranking the attributes, while but we got a clear order of attributes, of which the top five can be explicitly selected. Taking the next three ranks into consideration, the attributes behind them have clear meanings and they seem to be complementary for the top five. The stakeholder groups were significantly differ in scoring openmindedness and external relations, the importance of network rendered services, and the goals relevance of the network to the firms.

  • Portuguese agriculture and its role in multifunctional rural development
    145-152
    Views:
    161

    AsinEurope,agricultureinPortugalissupposedtofulfill a multiplicity of roles. It should contribute to supply Portuguese population with quality and safe food, to be viable in a global, competitive, dynamic and aggressive market, to preserve precious cultural landscapes across country through sustainable land management, to assist rural areastobeattractiveandfeasibleandtosupportemployment and social cohesion. Nevertheless, adjustments are expected to adapt to new environmental conditions, mainly climate change, to minimize weaknesses, to hold new opportunities and face new challenges. Otherwise, increases on human desertification, rural areas abandonment and consequent negative effects on territory are predictable.

  • The Investigation of Factors Influencing the Market Prices of Agricultural Land in Hungary
    5-10
    Views:
    142

    The role of land (as the basis and the resource of agricultural production) is the most significant among the resources of production. The ownership of land, its use, the issue of its price and value, they have been key problems of political, social, legal and economic decisions. There were theoretical and practical experts throughout the world, and we intensively have to deal with the issue of land evaluation. In our research using empirical data collection and statistical methods, we examined not only the factors have influenced on land prices, but its effect as well.

    We have proven that the „golden crown”-based land evaluation system (golden crown is a measurement unit of the quality of agricultural land in Hungary) can show the land quality differences even today, but in spite of this, the results of calculations (and also the practice) increasingly justify and urge the necessity of the introduction of a modern land evaluation system.

    namese professionals graduated in Hungary, the reputation and popularity of Hungarian agricultural products and technologies, the achievements of R&D in the field of agriculture – could not be utilized from Hungarian side. Vietnam, however still preserved its socialist political establishment,but in terms of its economic development strategy and economic policy has gradually been standing on the basis of market orientation. Vietnam, with its population of ninety million shows a rapid and successful development and it means good opportunities even for Hungarian entrepreneurs.

    It would be a mistake to leave these potentials unused.

    JEL Classification: Q10, Q24, Q30

  • How Digital Technologies Are Changing Sport?
    89-96
    Views:
    962

    Sports is considered to be an outstanding sector of industry all over the world and can be defined in various fields from business point of view: for example competitive sports, recreation, fitness and entertainment (running commentary). All of these areas have been remarkably transformed by digital technology. Over the past three decades, the discipline sport informatics has become a growing discipline. In today’s connected world, the use of wearable technology, big data analytics, social media and sensor technology have revolutionized the way sports are played, analyzed and improved. Through various modern advances and apps, pro athletes can gain greater insight into their performance, improve training methods and elevate their skills. In addition to these, fans looking for mobile-friendly apps to give them the latest stats on the favorite players; real-time, behind the scenes content coupled with the instant reaction, from athletes and fellow fans alike. They want the highs, the lows, the remix replays, seeking a connection beyond the game and looking to share the experience with like-minded fans in the moment (WESTON, 2018). The aim of this present study, on the one hand, is to determine the interlocks of sports and information technology, on the other hand, to show how to increase fan experience with digital technologies under-propping them with practical examples. According to international literatures, there are 4 macro areas which show the linking between sport and informatics: athletic performance, sport club, event management, fan experience. Mobil fan experience, augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR), big data, social media are those technologies which even popular are these days in order to enhance fan experience in sport.

    JEL Classification: L83

  • The role of agribusiness in stimulating on-farm investments – case-study of the armenian dairy sector
    85-91
    Views:
    137

    This paper analyses the impact on investments of contractual arrangements between farms and agribusiness in the Armenian dairy sector. Our empirical evidence is based on a unique survey of 300 Armenian dairy farms. The dairy sector is of particular importance as it provides vital employment and income, in an environment of weak social security and scarce job opportunities. Furthermore, milk production is predominantly organized in small-scale farms, which are most likely to be affected by adversarial financial conditions and limited in their opportunities to raise resources to invest. The results show that a large share of milk producers in Armenia is actively investing to upgrade their farm business. Furthermore, investment activity is not limited to large dairy farmers as over 30% of respondents with less than eight cows have made dairy-specific investments. We find that the linkages between farms and agribusiness – and more specifically the support programs that agribusiness firms offer to their suppliers – have been crucial in stimulating this restructuring process at the farm level. Interestingly, farmers with a more exclusive relationship to the buyer and farmers that deliver to more internationally oriented buyers are more likely to receive support. On the other hand, buyers that operate in a more competitive market are less likely to provide support to their suppliers. These findings have interesting policy implications. On the one hand, our results point to the gains that can be made from openness to international firms. On the other hand, the negative competition effect indicates that buyers are unable to enforce repayment of the provided farm services in an environment where a lot of buyers are competing for the same supply. Policy makers should look at ways of improving the enforcement capability of dairy companies under these circumstances.

  • Education for rural development and agribusiness in post-socialist Slovakia
    133-137
    Views:
    139

    Agricultural education and training in the former Czechoslovakia has traditionally focused on fostering the position of cooperatives and state farms. The destruction of socialist agriculture and the reduction of commuting opportunities in the urban space during the transition have resulted in the handicapped socio-economic position of the Slovak countryside and its population. The role of education and training in fostering agribusiness growth and rural development could therefore become a crucial strategy. The aim of this article is to analyse the current state of education and training for agribusiness and for rural development in Slovakia using the methods of literature research and document analysis. The article interprets general trends in the development of adult education in Slovakia during the transition period. The main priorities and perspectives formulated in the national strategy for education in agriculture (for the period 2007-2013) are discussed in the mentioned context. With a focus on the leading role of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, the paper assesses the current status of formal and further agricultural education and training offered in academic and other educational institutions. The paper concludes by discussing implications, recommendations and challenges for developing education and training initiatives for agribusiness and rural development.

  • Analysis of the leisure sport activities in University of Debrecen
    75-80
    Views:
    161

    The sports program of the professional higher education focusing on the leisure sports opportunities. New needs, change in taste and new leisure habits of the young generation should be taken into account to design the University’s leisure sports program. In my study I was dealing with a questionnaire survey investigating the attitude of the students of the University of Debrecen to leisure sports, and the students’ opinions about their own physical status. Data collection was completed on a paper based questionnaire, 42 closed-type questions were included and a total of 213 students completed it. In conclusion I found that the students are satisfied with their physical states although not many of them do sport on a regular basis. I revealed the primary excuses for neglecting sports: lack of time, laziness and timetable discrepancies. These findings make it imperative that by avoiding the existing discrepancies the students be provided the widest range of time in their time tables available for physical activities.

    JEL code: Z20

  • The mutual influences of man-made pollutants and allergic manifestations
    97-105
    Views:
    286

    The United Nations have projected the world population to reach 9.6 billion by 2050 and that, by then, over 50% of the world population will be living in urban areas. This continuing population growth and accompanying urbanization lead to serious concerns about clean water and food for all, but also about climate change and pollution. Soil and water pollution are directly affecting the crops grown for consumption, and air pollution is affecting our mucosal barriers in the respiratory and gastro-intestinal tract on a daily basis. This review provides an overview of the different types of pollution, and the health effects triggered by especially air pollution ranging from heart disease, pulmonary disease, cancer, to fatal respiratory infections. In addition, the differences in how pollution-induced effects are affecting different age-groups are discussed. Finally, the socio-economic causes and consequences (e.g. Quality of Life and Years of Life Losses versus medical care cost) of these pollution-induced diseases are debated.

  • Towards innovative environmental management in the Agro-food Industry
    7-14
    Views:
    136

    This article focuses on the problem: what external (stakeholder) and (internal structural/organizational) factors drive companies in the food- and agribusiness towards innovative environmental management? Innovative companies are those considered to have adopted a supply chain perspective, instead of a focus on the single business unit. We propose that innovativeness is associated with stakeholder wishes (the government, the public environmental policy being a major influential factor), in combination with structural characteristics of the firm (like R&D-efforts, culture and managerial competences). We surveyed 492 companies in 2002, to get insight into the causes of innovativeness in the Dutch agri-food sector, and supplemented this data by means of a similar questionnaire in 2005. Structural equation modeling and correlation analysis were applied. The research provided evidence that companies are restricted by, and therefore not comfortable with, public environmental policies, which seem to obstruct innovativeness rather than stimulate it. Firms that(1) have enough internal (physical, financial, social)resourcestoinnovate, and (2) are more embedded in a web of (commercial) stakeholder wishes, prove to be more innovative. Suggestions are made to shift the corporate and public policies towards a supply chain-oriented approach by granting benefits for vertical cooperation in supply-chains.

  • Strategy for soil protection in cross-border region of Hungary and Romania
    135-137
    Views:
    114

    Within the Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme for 2007-2013 the University of Debrecen and the University of Oradea is to elaborate a soil strategy for the Nyírség and Bihor Mts region. Project partners expect the strategy will support and strenghten national, regional and local soil policies and contribute to the competitiveness of the region by protecting and developing various soil functions. Project partners also expect to prevent cross-border problems with soil and reduce the competition caused by cost differences.The elaboration of the strategy includes the problems of erosion, deflation, compaction, water-deficiency, inland water-threat, problems induced by the usage of fertilizers, loss and substitution of soil organic matter, amelioration (bentonite, sewage sludge, fermented biogas). Based on summarised data of former examinations and new experiments a concise database will make it possible to calculate and apply the Sustainability Index Model, which may be useful in order to address EU supports properly based on objective calculations, and may be useful to determine the optimal culture. The project also encourages the farmers to keep in mind the cross-compliance, since EU gives financial support to realise sustainable soil strategy based on EU directives. This may enhance the options to initiate the take off of rural areas with shrinking export facilities, to mitigate social tensions and the effect of migration processes.

  • The role of education, knowledge and human resources for the agricultural development in the perspective of new cap: an hypothesis of change in Basilicata
    123-129
    Views:
    167

    The role of education, knowledge and human resources in the agribusiness becomes of primary importance for the development of agricultural sector and, more generally, of the territory. The main objective of the present paper is to verify the role of investment in human resources and, consequently, in services for the agricultural development for the dynamics of rural development, trade and international cooperation of agribusiness.After a literature review, the paper firstly analyses the characteristics of the Italian Region of Basilicata, selected for our empirical application, and secondly develops an econometric model to explain the relationship between the rural GDP and a set of economic variables and of network-education-social (NES) dummy variable. These NES is representative of social, educational and, network factors, describing the degree of openness of the region firm. As expected, the results show that farmers may act as engines for economic development when they are trained on the basis of the needs and requirements related to innovation and research, and they are assisted through new models of organization of agricultural services.

  • Integrating environment economy to project management
    39-43
    Views:
    358

    Environmental sustainability is a horizontal issue that appears at all level of economic activities and private life. Due to the increasing complexity of regulations, particularly in case of EU funded developments, all the projects need to meet a lot of criteria on environment protection issues. These activities include the conduction of environmental studies, data collection, future emission estimations, improving social attitude, acquiring necessary permissions and environment friendly equipment and finally all the administrative activities to monitor everything mentioned previousThe project management organization increasingly needs a special expertise to meet all the requirements no matter what is the original scope of the project. The study collects different type of knowledge and expertise to manage environment economic issues during project management on four different categories, such as legal, technical, financial or human. The summary of the different type of knowledge provides logical conclusion on how the project management organization should meet the challenges of climate change in terms of daily work and organizational operations.

    JEL classification: O22

  • Distance makes the mind grow broader: an overview of psychological distance studies in the environmental and health domains
    33-46
    Views:
    1057

    Environmental and health issues are two of the most pressing issues society faces today. People often view both environmental and health issues as psychologically distant: they believe that the problems will occur in the future, to other people, in other places and that the exact outcomes are uncertain. This paper provides an overview of studies that have investigated how the different psychological distance dimensions (viz., temporal, spatial, social and hypothetical) influence perceptions, intentions, and decision making in the environmental and health domains. This overview suggests that psychological distance indeed matters in both domains. There are indications that threat perceptions are mostly heightened when communicated or perceived as being psychologically close. However, the studies also show that a mere increase in perceived threat does not necessarily alter intentions or behavior. Moreover, with regard to the effects of psychological distance, there are neither clear differences between the environmental and the health domain nor between the four psychological distance dimensions. We discuss possible moderators that may explain the range of findings. Finally, we conclude with discussing the current stance of the literature and discuss specific research topics that are yet to be studied. As environmental and health behavior involve more than just one decision or one behavior, we suggest, for example, that future studies should investigate how psychological distance influences not only the target behavior, but related behavior as well.

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